I always like to share something

about Lent with you at this time of year. With the beginning of Lent this

past "Ash Wednesday", here's a thought for you to ponder.

Lent is the "penitential

season" in the "Church Year" (for those of us who use it).

Lent consists of the forty days before Easter, not counting the Sundays.

It recounts the 40 days Jesus spent in the wilderness tempted by the devil,

and is a time of personal spiritual reflection, specifically meditating

on what it means that Jesus died on the cross to pay for all our sins.

Lent is a "40-day Revival" of sorts, for those of you who know

a lot about what that is!

One thing many Lutherans, Catholics,

and Episcopalians do as a part of their spiritual life in Lent and all

year round is to "make the sign of the cross" upon themselves.

This is simply using one's hand to trace The Cross upon one's self, beginning

at the forehead, tracing down to the chest, then crossing to the left

shoulder and over to the right shoulder, and